The present invention relates generally to fishing lures, and in particular to a lure for securely mounting a bait fish.
In the sport fishing of various predator fish such as mackerel, wahoo, swordfish and the like, it is common practice to use as a lure an appropriate bait fish such as ballyhoo. Using accepted techniques, the hook line is manually wrapped around the bait fish and the hook barb attached to the tail. Oftentimes a sleeve is placed around the belly of the bait fish for additional support during the line attachment. In addition to being laborious, great skill and expertise is required to provide a lure attachment that will simulate the movement of the bait fish and accordingly provide the greatest enticement for the predator fish. Notwithstanding the above, the attaching gear detracts from desired natural appearance of the bait fish, particularly when the attaching procedure obscures the eyes of the bait fish, which many believe to present an artificiality to the lure that disinterests the target sport fish. Moreover, such mountings are highly prone to unnatural inversion during trolling.
For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,829,186 and 5,611,168 to Schultz et al. disclose a fishing lure wherein the head of the fish is encased in a pair of barbed jaws that cover the eyes and detract from the attractiveness of the bait to the attacking fish. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 3,893,255 to Hicks discloses a plastic sleeve that encases the head of the fish. Although the sleeve is initially transparent and the head visible, the transparency decreases in the fishing environment and the effect is mitigated.
Other approaches for rigging bait fish involve mounting the head in an encircling collar as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,337,442 to Schultz and 4,233,771 to Robinson. Both are formed of plastic material creating problems in trolling stability and making it difficult to control the depth of the lure. A further approach as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,914,896 to Sahagian uses a pair of spring biased jaws to retain the body of the bait fish.
The present invention provides a lure that rapidly securely mounts the bait fish with a minimal obscuring of the bait fish profile, enables easy attachment of even multiple barbed hooks, and provides the hydrodynamics for maintaining natural upright orientation of the bait fish for low speed trolling and deeper water transit, as well as bottom positioning at rest. The bait fish lure has a unitary lead body having an apertured conical nose section for receiving and retaining the nose of a bait fish and a symmetrically flared tail section defining an upwardly trough for supporting the lower portion of the nose of the bait fish, while leaving the eyes of the bait fish exposed. Inwardly projecting hooks on the tail section penetrate and secure the body of the fish to the body. A leader line extends through a lower longitudinal passage in body and is attached at the trailing end to a barbed hook. The tail section of the lure presents a balanced weighted shape under trolling or static conditions and presents a consistent realistic profile of the bait fish. The tail section also creates a turbulent flow along the body of the bait fish imparting a natural swimming section to the tail of the bait fish. Upon a predator fish striking, the lure is free to break away from the fish a travel forwardly on the leader.
Accordingly, it is an object to provide a fish lure to which a bait fish may be readily and securely attached.
Another object is to provide a fish lure for billed bait fish that presents a natural appearance.
A further object is to provide a bait fish lure that is stable and upright under trolling and static conditions.
Yet another object is to provide a bait lure presenting a realistic appearance to an attached bait fish and imparting natural swimming movements thereto during movement.